No matter what you do to protect your hair, the colour will
fade over time, especially in the hot sun.
After the heat wave
my barnet had gone from a gorgeous golden brown to a wishy-washy orangey dark
blonde, though, I hasten to add not brassy.
Like most people, I tend to wash my hair more in the summer,
and as we all know, the more you wash your hair, the more the colour fades,
even using shampoos which are supposed to help prevent colour loss. Hairdryers
and other heated appliances also take their toll on our locks.
I did wear a hat when I was spending long periods outside,
but I guess on the days I just popped to the shops or walked for 10 minutes to
catch the Tube to go to a meeting, the sun managed to lighten it.
In the sunlight my tresses washed me out even more. (Yes,
even a half a shade can have an effect on your complexion.) So, I had to be
rather more heavy handed with the blusher brush and use a slightly peachier one.
When the weather cooled down, the first thing I did was make
an appointment to see Liz Edmonds, Daniel Galvin’s superb colour director. On
seeing my hair she said it had lifted a shade.
“The lighter your
hair, the more light reflection you get. The darker, the less light it reflects
and the more shine you will get,” she said.
“The sun tends to make, brunettes go orangey or redder”.
What we actually see as colour is light reflecting from the
pigments. The Oxford Dictionary online defines colour as “the property
possessed by an object of producing different sensations on the eye as a result
of the way it reflects or emits light.”
Unlike sunlight, most light bulbs do not produce the full
spectrum of colour, so hair in artificial light can appear darker.
Liz’s cure was to take it down a shade (hair colour levels
range from 1 to 10 with 1 being the darkest) giving it more depth and make it a
more neutral shade. “In some cases, I would just use a toner,” said Liz. “In
your case, I am going to paint the pieces that have faded and then massage it
through the ends for five minutes.”
I was so happy to be back to being a brunette. In fact this
is the darkest I have been for ages and I love it and so do my friends and
family from the comments that I have received.
By Daralyn Danns
Daniel Galvin (danielgalvin.com)
